by P. S. Power
They’d better not though.
They’d knock over the tree and it actually looked pretty nice. It would be a shame if that happened.
The party, Jake realized, was flagging pretty badly. No one moved to mingle as Nate had suggested, or even get a snack. Some of the food was clearly unusual, like the hard spice cookies Sammi had made, which were a traditional Bawdri thing. So it wasn’t just that all the food was new to the people. No, it was like everyone was waiting for someone else to go first, so they wouldn’t seem greedy.
Shrugging Jake made his way over, feeling a little self-conscious about it all. Everyone was watching him. Staring. As if judging his every move. It made him uneasy and feel a strong desire to hold his nine in hand, except he needed that hand to get at the goodies. There were some things he recognized, and some obviously brought by one of the groups that had come, so he took one of everything, even though that might seem a little greedy on his part too. He didn’t want anyone to think he was dissing their cultural traditions or whatever. Besides, everyone had worked really hard to make this happen, it would be wrong not to at least give it all a shot.
Then he moved off to the side and started nibbling at a Russian tea cake, it was covered with fine white powdered sugar and had that familiar dry texture inside. They always made a mess when you ate them, and it was hard to manage it all, juggling the other things in his overloaded left hand. There were plates for things, but not enough for everyone, so he’d just opted to do without.
As if it was a signal the kids all went and got some things too. Nate kind of had to push them into it, nudging some of them, since they were used to eating last, not first. It had been the rule at the police compound, as if food should be assigned by rank, instead of need, or even first come first serve. Kind of a douche thing to do, but the old chief had kind of lost it toward the end. That’s what Robin had said at least, and she should know.
She was his daughter.
Also Holsom’s half sister.
The girl held back, not getting anything from the table. Either trying to be polite and wait for the guests to get a chance at it, or feeling that she didn’t deserve anything nice, after having betrayed them the day before. It hadn’t been her fault in any way though. Her half brother had used his ability to enslave her. Force her to love him. Unreasonably. That kind of epic love that normal people never really get to have. Or if they do, it’s yanked away from them, almost like a cosmic joke. To her it had been real though. Overpowering reason and sensibility.
The gross part was that it probably meant the man had been having sex with her. They shared the same father though, so… Eeew.
Not her fault at all, it had been Derrick that had done it.
The girl had dark hair, brown he thought, but nearly black in the dim light, and she stood by the far wall, near the door that led to the front room. That had been were Jake had killed her brother the night before, after she let Holsom in. It had been part of the plan to finally catch the man.
She looked at the floor, not him, not anyone else, and didn’t move for a long time. Finally Jake worked his way to her side, noticing her nice new green shirt, a button up, that was tucked into the black jeans she wore. Robin had some nice curves for a girl her age. Thin but filled out more than a lot of the others there were. After things had happened it had been hard for most people to make it at all, and they’d lost weight. Her place had been better that way, and while they’d rationed, it wasn’t nearly the starvation that most of them had gone through.
“Robin want a cookie?” He held out his hand, half joking with her, acting like she was a parrot, but she took the top one, an interesting looking thing that was all orange and took a bite.
“Not horrible. Pumpkin bars? Not something I would have thought of, but kind of good.” The girl took another slow bite, enjoying the treat. They didn’t get a lot of them, and wouldn’t have had these things, if some of these others hadn’t brought in nearly a year’s supply of food in the previous weeks. They’d grown their own, but didn’t have things like sugar in vast supply. Or hadn’t. They did now. It was a relief really, since it meant that was one less thing keeping Jake there. If these people didn’t have to scramble for food, they wouldn’t need him to be out constantly trying to get more, right?
He could leave now and not feel too bad about the idea.
Robin finished the treat and looked wistfully at the table that had been loaded with them, but didn’t go over. She kept looking down, probably mad at him for killing her brother. That or she wanted another cookie, but didn’t want to ask. She hesitated for a moment, then took a deep breath. What she said next was different than what he expected her to say by far.
“Can I move in with you?” Her words weren’t happy sounding, but they weren’t shy either.
“Sorry?”
“Move to your house? With Jill and Billi and them? I know that it’s a bit of a hassle for you, but I don’t really feel comfortable here. Everything has kind of gone wrong for me. First dad and then Derrick… I really loved him you know. I know it was totally wrong, but I always kind of had a crush on him anyway and then when I met up with him again… I just couldn’t help myself. Everything about him was just so perfect. I still kind of feel that way. Except that now I want Carley even more.” The girl shrugged. “That’s not a good thing for me. I know why she did it, and I love her for it, but I’m not into women for sex. I wasn’t at least. If I stay here, I’m afraid I’ll do it though, and she doesn’t want it either, so that’s really not a good thing for anyone. It’s best if I leave. I’ll miss her, at least until I detox the chemicals from my system, but that could be a bit she said. Weeks maybe.”
Jake got the rest without having to be told. She needed out and there just weren’t a lot of places for a person to go. Really, unless some of these visitors wanted to take people back home with them, there wasn’t anywhere else to go at all. If he shut her down, she was just stuck in a large group of people that probably kind of hated her for one reason or another. Either for who her dad was, or because they felt she’d endangered them, helping Derrick.
Both were true too, so she couldn’t argue the point even. That sucked.
He shrugged and handed her another cookie, this one actually bearing some resemblance to a normal one, a chocolate chunk cookie with walnuts. They didn’t have chocolate chips. No one was even making those anymore most likely, being kind of a low priority. The government had kept Hershey’s up though, making chocolate bars. It sounded silly, but it was supposed to be a sign that things weren’t really over. Maybe that was a good idea? If they could get people the chocolate at least. She took it, her soft white fingers lingering on his just enough to not be accidental. She was cute, in a kind of horse faced way, but only sixteen. If she thought she was going to buy her way into his place with sex, she was just wrong. He might be desperate for it, but he wasn’t going that young. Not yet at any rate. Maybe in a few months though? How long did it take for morality to wear away that much anyway? Jake wondered if he was working hard enough on rationalizations for things. No one else would care if he slept with her. Not because of her age. It wasn’t going to happen though.
“All right. Can you get with Jill on that? She’s in charge of the others and you all have a lot in common I think. Most of it bad, but if you have to share a room, it will be with one of them, so probably a good idea to make the connections. Besides, I think we need to take some treats around. Almost no one is touching anything and everyone is still just kind of standing. Awkwardly.” It was about the lamest party he’d ever been too.
Which was saying something, since he used to entertain at old folks homes several times a year.
The girl smiled at him, sadly though, “thanks. I know to work and all that. I won’t be a burden, I don’t think. I’ll check with the others and see if I can find some trays, so we can take stuff around.” Then, looking at him a little strangely, she walked off. The glance was almost as if she’d expected something else fr
om him.
What though? Demands for sex, or that she get permission from Nate first? Or maybe him saying that he’d be happy to have her around? Really… it would be pleasant. The other women at his house were nice enough, but scared of him still. It would be great to have someone around that just wasn’t.
Dinner wouldn’t be for hours, and it was still very early. What did they have to do around there though? That wasn’t just work, though that was an idea. Convince them all that it was time for the traditional Christmas wood splitting?
Jake sighed and glanced at the people there, dressed in their finery, chatting in low tones and looking at him when they thought he wasn’t paying attention. If it had been back before he would have turned on a football game or a parade, maybe a Christmas special or two. Now they didn’t have anything like that at all. A football game out back would have been interesting, if they had a ball and could explain the rules to everyone well enough.
Except for the fact that it would probably call a bunch of zombies down on them. Which was an idea, if a horrible one. Still, desperation was calling to his tired brain, so why not?
“I don’t suppose anyone would want to hunt some zombies before dinner? We have plenty of those still, out in the woods.” They did too, Jake was willing to bet on it. He meant the words as a joke, a sign of how little they truly had to do there, other than work, but suddenly half the people in the room moved toward him, clearly interested in the idea.
“Real undead? That sounds fascinating. I’ve never seen one… Would it be permitted for me to watch?” This came from Alyssian, the Bawdri girl. Woman. It was hard to remember that they aged so differently.
Next to her Darian smiled, a thing that looked a little more pleased than his earlier attempts had been.
“That sounds exciting. We didn’t bring many weapons, are there some to lend?”
Jake noticed that most of the people looked pleased by the idea. It was kind of creepy to use such a thing for sport, but it beat the heck out of watching everyone stand around and not eat the good food, while barely talking. Besides, the dead had to be dealt with anyway. So if these people wanted to help with that, it might work out all right. Looking around he found Sammi and gestured to her, a big and obvious thing, which earned a smile from the tiny blond as she walked over smoothly. She’d changed, so that she wore a nice powder blue dress that looked a bit like something out of an old west television program. It was a good color for her though.
“Sam, could you arrange for that? We need the Cleaners, anyone that wants to go with us, or guard the people watching, and weapons for those that actually want to try it themselves.” He asked in a low tone, leaning down so that it wouldn’t be broadcast to everyone, even though it wasn’t a secret.
Things moved pretty quickly then and he didn’t even have to do anything himself. Vickie, Carl and Tipper came out with their teams for the actual “hunt”, which was just going to be standing and blowing dog whistles, since the zombies seemed to really love those and would come from a good ways off, thinking they were babies crying probably. Normally they didn’t follow anything that didn’t sound like a human voice. It was an interesting exception, but one that worked really well.
It was Vickie that led the “hunting” team out first, halfway to the woods, with a full team of cleaners there for backup, if someone panicked. It could happen, since it turned out that most of these people hadn’t ever been as close to a zombie as they were at that moment, having isolated strongholds set up for safety already. A few had come in close contact at some point however, and all of those stayed back by the house with the “observing” group, except Robert, who followed Darian. It probably should have been a warning to the others, but no one seemed to pick up on it. Tipper worked with Molly and Len to set a guard for the watchers, just in case something slipped past the firing line. It could happen. The zombies would come to the whistle, but they didn’t care about convenience or know they were supposed to come from the woods directly.
It was kind of impromptu, so they hadn’t had a lot of time to coordinate with them. Hadn’t even put up any signs explaining things yet. How were the mindless undead to know what to do? So they needed the extra guards.
The actual event went smoothly at first. It took a lot more ammunition to take down the shamblers that came out of the woods than it should have, people either missing, or not really getting the idea of good head shots yet. It made Jake wince a little, but no one said anything. Alyssian clapped happily, and spoke a little too loudly.
“Oh! I should try it! Is that possible?” She was looking at Tipper, who winced as Jake’s hand went for his sidearm. Sammi saw the motion and looked scared, but ran over and put herself between Jake’s sights and the woman’s body. He could still hit her, of course, since the girl was shorter, leaving the older Bawdri’s head exposed, but he got the idea.
Don’t shoot the guests.
It did seem a trifle rude, so he put the weapon away before the woman noticed. The Val leader, a gray haired woman that could not only hand him his behind in a fight, but looked like it, stared at him, but didn’t say anything. She just nodded, a very slow and considering thing. Sammi spoke urgently, but her voice didn’t sound frightened, just hurried.
“Mother,” she husked this, voice lower than normal. It sometimes worked to get people to keep the noise down. Just a human nature thing really. “We need to talk in softer tones, or it can attract the dead.” She sounded apologetic, as if she were trying to make a point without insulting the woman. Then if it was her mom, maybe that had something to do with it?
To her credit Alyssian ducked her head for a moment, embarrassed, “oops. I was informed that would be the case, but it’s harder to remember than it sounded like at first. Is it really that important? I notice these others using devices to lure them in?” At least she only sounded like she wanted to know, not like she was questioning the truth of the words.
Jake walked closer, gun in hand again, looking off toward the road at the zombie that was there. It was coming in fast, but low to the ground. The uniform indicated the man had been a police officer once upon a time, and the speed meant a super-z, a person that got turned after having the zombie vaccine that the government had tried. The problem with it was that it stopped working after about three months and everyone that had it was slowly turning into a zombie already. That kind of sucked, since it meant some ninety odd of the people at the House were already infected.
Normally the things jumped high into the air in great bounds instead of running, but this one scrambled on the ground, slipping in the snow too much for good leaps. It was still moving in at a speed faster than a human could run, even as it flailed about. Jake waited for it to close a little and started firing, having moved just in front of Alyssian, her dress was pretty, but not designed to fight zombies in at close range. Plus she didn’t have a weapon. Not out at least. It wouldn’t shock him to learn she was armed though, if secretly.
The first bullet missed, since the thing stumbled a little at just the perfect moment, but after that Jake hit it twice in the head, solidly enough to take it down. Nothing else came from the road, so he carefully jogged through the hard white on the ground, and when he got closer, fired again, making sure the thing wouldn’t get back up. They needed to take the head. It was one thing to leave a regular zombie for a while, but a super-z was just too dangerous to play around with. Jake pointed to Molly with his left hand, holstered his nine and spoke softly enough that no one could probably hear him.
Molly got it anyway, probably reading his lips. They’d all kind of learned how by now. Constant practice could do that for you.
“We can’t bury, can you watch this one while I get an ax?”
The girl nodded. She used to be heavy, cow eyed and depressed. Now she was trim, cow eyed, and decently capable. It was an improvement. Her brown eyes didn’t look that brilliant, but she was becoming almost solid. Nineteen, but that wasn’t as young now as it had been even ten months before
.
There was a steady rain of gunfire coming from the hunting section, as they worked together to obliterate the head of what used to be the towns preacher. One of them at least. The Catholic one, Jake thought. He had the right clothes at least. Molly was a Catholic, so she’d probably know who he was. Just as well she had other things to do then.
When he got back with the ax a large group of people stood around the form slowly flopping on the ground, his head and face dripping thick black blood. It just oozed a little, nearly frozen.
But not frozen all the way. All the rest of the zombies had been, hadn’t they? Since the world had gotten cold and stayed that way. This was different. Jake pointed to it and got Tipper to nod. Sammi too. The rest either didn’t get it, or if they did, weren’t going to react for some reason.
It was a strange thing and there was more wetness when he donned a face mask made of an old piece of cloth and had everyone else stand back. No one had been turned from breathing in bits of Zombie yet, not in their group, and he really didn’t want to start that now. As he took the last swing, Tipper fired several times, taking out a shambler that was coming toward them. Oddly enough Molly volunteer to take the head on that one, which was frozen solid. It took the girl about seven minutes to get it done, but she didn’t stop swinging the ax or ask for help with it.
It was a vast improvement for her.
Jake felt someone from the crowd moving closer to him. He glanced over at the woman, the Valkyries’ leader. Odina North, Yalla.
“The girl has spirit. The first one, the one that you stopped, that isn’t normal is it? One of the new kind?” She sounded interested, so Jake explained the whole thing to her and noticed after a few minutes that everyone had moved closer, like it was a guided tour.